Shoe-ironing apparatus.



G. S. GOVELL.

SHOE momma APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26, 1907.

Patented June 25, 1912.

VV/TNflSl UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

GEORGE S. oovELL, or LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ssIeNoR To UNITED. SHoE M cHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SHOE-IRONING APPARATUS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. CovELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Shoe-Ironing Apparatus, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to devices or apparatus for use in the manufacture of boots and shoes.

This apparatus is intended to be employed after the lasting operation for the purpose of forcing or pressing the upper materials against the last to cause them to conform to the shape of the underlying faces of the last and of smoothing the shoe to remove wrinkles or inequalities that may be present in the upper materials. It has heretofore been the custom of the hand workman to rub and beat the shoe with the head of a hand hammer during or after the lasting operation and apparatus has been devised in which the shoe is similarly treated by mechanically operated tools.

over the edg ofthe last, and are folded or plaited on the shoe bottom at the heel and toe of the last, are among the most difficult ing it, shrinks the leather to take out wrinkles and it also softens the leather, and the surface finish of enameled leathers, to facilitate subsequent operations thereon. The present invention comprises novel means for ironing a shoe.

An'important featureof this invention consists in ironing means particularly adapt- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 26, 1907.

T The portions of the shoe at and adjacent tot-he edge of the bottom where the upper materials are bent Patented June 25, 1912.

Serial No. 380,939.

ed for use in treating a lasted shoe at and adjacent to the edge of the shoe bottom prior to the application of the outer sole to the shoe. The ironing means may comprise a mechanically operated tool or tools or it may comprise a hand tool or stationary ironing device to which the shoe is presented and with relation to which the shoe is moved by the operator for treating its clifferent parts. The latter embodiment of the invention has certain advantages among which may be mentioned the fact that the tool may be attached to any convenient support as a bench or a bracket, although I preferably attach it to the frame of a machine by which a preceding or a succeeding operation is performed upon the shoe. In th illustrated embodiment of the invention I have shown the ironing device as attached to a pounding-up machine in convenient position for the machine operator to present the shoe to the ironing device while standing in working relation to the machine. The stationary ironing device is not herein claimed, however, as it forms the subjectmatter of a divisional application Serial No. 417,553, filed February 24, 1908.

The pounding-up machine herein shown is provided with means for resting and guiding the side of the shoe in position for the shoe bottom to receive the action of the pounding-up tools. In accordance with another embodiment of the .invention the means for resting and guiding the shoe is heated so that the side of the shoe presented and guided in contact therewith is ironed while the shoe is being pounded up. The

rests,- of which there may conveniently be one located on each side of the poundingup tools, are preferably formed and arranged to engage the side of the shoe at and adjacent to its edge and cooperate with the pounding-up tool to shape the edge of the shoe. In the machine shown the heated resting and guiding devices by which the shoe is also ironed comprise a pair of rollers. The rollers are preferably connected to mechanism for turning them, thus forming mechanically actuated ironing devices which constitute a feature of the invention. T

The foregoing and other features of the invention, including certain combinations of parts and details of construction will be eX- plained in the following description and pointed out in the annexed claims.

Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a pounding-up machine equipped with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through the stationary ironing device. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the stationary ironing device. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the pounding-up machine showing the relation of the mechanically actuated ironing devices to the shoe. In this figure the stationary ironing device is mounted upon the opposite side of the machine frame from its position shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the mechanically actuated ironing devices as arranged at such a distance apart that the end portion of the shoe may be thrust between them for treatment of the opposite sides of the shoe simultane-ously.

The stationary ironing device 2 is provided with a supporting arm or bracket 4 by which it may be attached to the frame of a machine or any other suitable support.

Preferably the stationary ironing device is.

formed as a chambered block adapted to contain a heat distributing liquid and said device is heated by a gas flame from a burner 20 located below it and it is provided with a contracted neck 22 and a removable cover 24.

The pounding-up machine which is herein shown as equipped with the present invention carries a pounding-up device 30 mounted in an oscillating lever 32. These'parts are not of my invention, but will preferably be constructed to operate substantially as shown in a pending application of Ronald F. McFeely, Serial No. 220,828, filed August 15, 1904.

Mounted in the frame 34 of the poundingup machine are rollers 35 heated by flames from gas burners 36 and arranged to iron the side of a shoe adjacent to its edge at the same time that the shoe is being beaten by the pounding-up device 30. The rollers form rests for positioning the shoe properly with relation to the pounding-up device. They are shown as mounted upon spindles 37 carrying intermeshing pinions 38 and one of the spindles is provided with a pulley 40 which receives a belt 42 connected with the driving shaft of the machine and by which the rollers are turned in contact with the shoe. constitute mechanically driven ironing devices for rubbing the sides of the shoe.

They may be spaced apart as shown in Fig. 5 to permit the end portion of the shoe to be thrust between them and cause them to act for ironing the opposite sides of the shoe simultaneously. As shown, the rollers are The rollers thus driven in opposite directions whereby any tendency is avoided for shifting the upper longitudinally about the last by reason of their rubbing action.

In the use of the invention the shoe is usually presented first to the pounding-up machine. In making welt shoes only the heel portion of the shoe is treated in. the pounding-up machine as the shank and the fore part cannot be beaten by the poundingup hammer without flattening down the lip on the innersole to which the upper is to be sewed by a subsequent operation. In making McKay shoes the entire shoe may be presented to the action of the poundingup and ironing tools. The mechanically actuated ironing rollers 35 iron the side of the shoe adjacent to its edge at the same time that the bottom of the shoe is being treated by the pounding-up tool. The rollers thus iron the shoe at and adjacent to its edge without consuming any time for a special operation and as the pounding-up is done before the outersole is applied the ironing at and near the edge can be done much more conveniently and thoroughly than it can be done in the finishing room, as has been the previous practice.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with means for poundingup a lasted shoe, of an ironing device, means to heat said device, and means to actuate said device for ironing that portion of the side of a shoe at and adjacent to the edge of the bottom which is inaccessible for such treatment after the outer sole is attached.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with pounding-up means and mechanism for actuating it to beat the bottom face of a lasted shoe, of ironing means arranged with relation to the pounding-up means to iron the shoe upper at and along the edge adjacent to the bottomwhile the shoe is in position to be treated by the poundingup means to shrink the upper to obliterate wrinkles, and mechanism for actuating the ironing means.

8. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with a device for poundingup a shoe, of a rotary ironing device positioned and shaped for treating the enamel on the side of the upper at and adjacent to the edge of the bottom to soften and shrink the enamel to obliterate wrinkles and tosmooth the upper to facilitate subsequent operations, means for heating the ironing device, and mechanism for actuating the said device. 7

4. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination with means for pounding-up a shoe, of ironing rollers arranged with relation to the pounding-up means to form rests name to this specification in the presence of for engagement With the side of the shoe betwo subscribing Witnesses. i11 aounded u 3, means for heatin said l'oi lel 's, and mea ns for actuating the l -ollers GEORGE COVELL' With relation to the shoe and to the heating VVit-nesses: means. ARTHUR L. RUssELL,

In testimony whereof I have signed my ELIZABETH C. COUPE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

\ Washington, D. G. 

